Trimming a mediterranean palm tree without hurting yourself

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Although med palms are supposed to look bushy, every once in a while I give mine a good haircut. Trust me, it grows back! And in addition to having a nice-looking garden, I like to do it myself, and not get hurt. It's a slow process, and I'll see if I can explain.

First of all, you need some gauntlet gloves, like you would wear trimming rose bushes. Med palms have deadly thorns, and you don't even want to think about getting stuck! No, I don't recommend a particular brand, but I do want to mention that if you're a man that you'll need to get a larger size than you normally wear. Gardening gloves are sized for women (because that's their major market). My hands are a medium man's, but a large woman's. Still, you don't want them too big - I recommend that you go somewhere where you can try them on. I bought these online and they're very tight!


Now don't be tempted to just start cutting and leaving stuff all over the place. I have a cardboard box that I can put the trimmings in as I go, and I usually only work for a few minutes at a time. Having a big pile of razor-sharp cuttings sitting in the yard is a terrible mistake - and I know because I've done it. I have a bit of a wonky lower back, and so I fill this box and drag it to where I need to dump it. Note that I even cut a little handle in one of the flaps! Low-tech, but it works!

This is as far as I've gotten this morning. To get it started, I do two cuts - one for the major leaf, and then a second for the stem. I as I go further along I can do one cut, but this is where I start. Doing this comes under the category of "health and fitness" for me, and it's not only good for my physical health, it's good for my mental health!

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on buymeacoffee.com/bradhall, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!

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